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General Description
The Jabra FreeSpeak is best described as a continuous arc, starting with the earplug, heading up to the top of the ear, wrapping around the ear, and ending with the microphone boom on a tangent line coming straight out from the bottom of the ear, along the jaw line to end in the microphone. The earplug is the Jabra MiniGel- a very soft, electric blue material. The majority of the earpiece is a soft, grey elastomer, with silver plastic accents along the back of the earpiece and the top of the microphone housing. The arc swells out and becomes harder behind the ear. The microphone housing swells out from the boom in an ovoid shape. The Bluetooth radio, battery and electronics are housed in the swelling behind the ear.
The Jabra FreeSpeak comes with a holder that doubles as a charging "stand" and belt clip. It is a round, thick disc, with an arc cut through it to house the earpiece. It is not really a stand, but the charger plugs into it, and contacts pass the charge onto the battery in the earpiece.
The Jabra FreeSpeak comes in two versions, one for Bluetooth phones and one for adapting to non-Bluetooth phones using 2.5mm plugs or phone-specific adapters. The adapter plug is connected to the same round charging belt clip that comes with the Bluetooth version. Jabra calls this a Charging Cradle with Clip. This houses a Bluetooth radio as well. When the earpiece is out of the cradle clip, a Bluetooth connection is made between the earpiece and cradle, which then connects to the phone via the wire and adapter plug.
The Plantronics is a large ovoid that hands off of the thin earpiece loop. The charger plugs directly into it.
As mentioned elsewhere, the Jabra FreeSpeak comes with a charging cradle/belt clip. This is a cylinder a bit more than an inch in diameter and 1/4-inch thick, with a cut-out to hold the headset. The Plantronics M3000 just gets put into a pocket, unless one buys the carry case accessory - rather like a cell-phone case, with a belt-clip (from the picture in the user guide). I don't have the latter, but I do have the former for the Jabra. It is very convenient and seems to work well, though the headset occasionally falls out of the cradle, especially when I'm wearing a jacket.